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“Yeah, and look where we are now.”
Nicolas Escarra was an old man at the head of the Escarra family, so at the time, it did look like a win—but after his son Gerardo took over, the Mexicans became even more active and annoying. I shake my head, lay the suitcase on top of Riccardo’s desk, and look up at my cousins.
“I’m not saying that Riccardo made a mistake, but I don’t think that asking him to come back will fix anything. In fact, it will only make us look like we’re in panic and don’t know what to do without him.”
Matteo and Louis exchange a quick glance and turn to me with doubt and curiosity. “And doyouknow how to deal with them?”
I can’t help but smile and straighten my shoulders, unable to contain the surge of pride and joy. “Yes, I do.”
I’ve been waiting for so long to reveal my plan, and now the time has finally come. I open the suitcase and start replacing the stacks of money, continuing in as calm and careless a tone as I can muster. “We have to show the Escarra family our strength without losing more of our people. We have to stomp on whatever pride they have and force them to submit. They were bold enough to lay a hand on our boy—and for that, we have to steal the most precious thing they have.”
“What’s that?”
I look up at them with a smirk. “The Mexican Princess.”
“Gerardo’s daughter?” Louis’ eyes widen while Matteo hums, considering my plan.
“But Gerardo is obsessed with his girl. She’s surrounded by guards every second. We won’t be able to even touch her without the Escarra family declaring war!”
I expected them to say this, and it only makes me even more pleased to dig out a folder from the bottom of the suitcase. It’s full of papers, photos, receipts, and printed-out emails, and I open it and drop it on the desk in front of Louis and Matteo.
“Yes, and that’s why I paid a traitor in their family to get all the information we need.”
The very first photo in the folder shows a high school graduation ceremony, and it would be nothing interesting if not for a red circle around one of the graduates. It circles the face of a girl with honey skin, long curly hair, round cheeks, and brown eyes, awkwardly smiling at the camera. She seems out of place, separated from other graduates and guarded by a man behind her.
Jacinta Escarra is her name, and no matter how innocent she looks, this girl is the most powerful person in this photo—and very soon, she’s gonna be mine.
Chapter 2 - Jacinta
Professor Borne claps his hands and looks from student to student with a wide grin. “Do you understand the task?”
When his gaze reaches me, I immediately look away to avoid his attention and focus on the paper in front of me. Professor Borne seems to be a nice man, but I hate it when he suddenly picks a student and asks them a question in front of the whole group. When it happened to me last week, I couldn’t say a single word and looked like an idiot for a whole minute until another student answered his question instead. So much for a good first impression, huh?
“Alright then, split into pairs, and let’s start.”
What? I snap my head up. Intopairs? Oh no, no, I hate—
“Hey, I guess we’re in it together.”
My heart immediately jumps up at the sound of Thomas’ voice, and I can see him move toward me from the corner of my eye. Oh god, I’m so bad at talking to new people, I can’t do this! But I do my best to smile—which probably looks weird as hell—and turn to Thomas with an awkward chuckle.
“Yeah.”
I couldn’t come up with anything worse, could I?
But instead of being weirded out, Thomas offers me a gorgeous smile and pushes his chair toward my desk. “Jacinta, right?”
My heart stutters, and I nod as a wave of heat rushes to my cheeks. God, what’s a guy like this doing in the library science course? Sun-kissed skin, honey eyes, and ah, those shoulders... Only a second later do I realize that I’m staring at him, and I immediately look away. Damn it. I must look so stupid. It’s been too long since I talked to a guy, it’s beentoolong.
“I’m Thomas.”
“Yeah, I know.”
Shit. Don’t be so weird! I look away, avoiding his gaze, and only hear Thomas laugh. Of course, I’m just a clown, aren’t I?
“Oh, that’s nice.” No,heis just being nice. “Well, do you know anything about decimal classification?”
I do, actually. Professor Borne talked about it for two hours yesterday, but I doubt that Thomas is actually interested in his lectures. Which is good! Because it gives me a perfect chance to switch from the awkward introduction to the task at hand. At least now I can talk without looking like a complete idiot.
